Small community holds 27th annual Santa parade

Simcoe County saw one of its last Santa Claus parades of the holiday season, as the small community of Anten Mills in Minesing hosted their 27th annual Santa parade Sunday afternoon.

For the neighbourhood of roughly 1,500 people and 250 homes, the annual Santa Claus Parade is a particularly important event in terms of bringing everyone together.

“We don’t have a post office we don’t have a general store, we don’t have a restaurant. We’re just a tight little community and this is one of the ways that the Community Recreation Association gets the people together,” said Dennis Gannon, the recreation association’s community events coordinator.

The parade featured a dozen floats and took place the day after the Anten Mills Christmas tree lighting.

Local businesses, firefighters, paramedics and other community organizations were involved, while some residents galloped the route on their horses. Donations were also collected for local toy drives.

A new feature for this year’s parade was the competition aspect, where parade winners carried ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’, ‘Village Elf’, and ‘Naughty and Nice List’ banners.

“It’s a fun family event and it brings everyone together,” added Gannon.

Local firefighters will also continue a 50-year community tradition of shuttling Santa Claus around on Christmas Eve to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

By Mike Lang, CTVNews.ca Barrie Video Journalist